Canon HV10, Ike housing

As a still shooter I have no knowledge of video. Still wouldn't mind having a rig for use on occasion.

I read all the posts on this Canon HV10 on the board. With the announcement of an Ike housing I was wondering if there were any user reports on this camera or opinions from knowledgeable videographers.

How does the HD on this camera compare with that on larger and more expensive HD cameras? Any close competitors in quality and especially size?

http://ikelite.com/web_two/can_hv10.html

Thanks to all.

warning newbie advice here:

i am going through the same thoughts right now and as fir as i can tell the nearest competitor is the sony hc3, in size and price. it seems that sony has at least two advantages and that's easy access to manual white balance, whereas as with most things canon, manual white balance is in the menus, and it seems it works slightly better in low light.

those who know things on this board do say that not having easy access to manual white balance can be an issue.

on recommendation from someone on this board i read the info on camcorder.com and it was quite useful.

hth/paul

The biggest weakness this camera has is the biggest strength on the pro-sumer cameras: low light performance. The biggest strength of this camera, its small size, is the biggest weakness for the pro-sumer cameras.

Here are a few snaps of the Ikelite housing for the HV10, and its only competing offering at this time.

Not really a fair comparison, so I put a tray & handles on the Seatool Housing to balance things out a bit.

If I were buying in that price range, I'd buy the Sony HC3. It has noticeably better low light performance, and more USABLE manual controls (EV, Exposure, Manual Focus, and White Balance shift). The HV10 gets pretty ugly, pretty fast when light levels drop. Sony's HC3 holds up much better, though.

In theory you can access the menu hidden options on the ikelite housing, but it is via a finicky control arm. This isn't a knock on ikelite, more Canon for its dumb little jog dial. These functions are much more easily accessed on an HC3.